


Black Dog

by la_muerta



Series: October 2019 Writing Prompt Insanity [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, SHFallFic Week 2: Came Back Wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 21:31:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20937068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_muerta/pseuds/la_muerta
Summary: Magnus Bane, a travelling demon hunter, wanders into a town that is being terrorised by a monstrous phantom dog.





	Black Dog

The day that Magnus wandered into the little town called Greyfall, the whole town was in such a state of panic that the arrival of a stranger in their midst barely caused a stir, even when the stranger was as debonair as Magnus. It was an extremely disconcerting turn of events for him.

He stopped by the only tavern in town and his coin and charm bought him a mug of ale and a healthy serving of gossip. The serving lady who poured him his second mug of ale told him that a huntsman and his sister had moved into the small town a few weeks ago - quiet folk, gave no trouble, kept to themselves. The sister was as beautiful as her brother was handsome, both with hair as black as night, and the sister had caught the eye of many a man in the town, but when approached she would just smile and politely decline their advances. The siblings lived in a tiny house they had built for themselves at the edge of the marsh, with the brother venturing out on the marshlands with his bow and arrows to hunt wild fowl, which his sister then sold in the marketplace. But rumours began to spread that the sister was in fact a witch; that the meat she sold contained potions that would make you crave only the wares she sold, and that she could make you think that spoiled meat was fresh meat and sell it as such. 

Three nights ago, a group of men had crept up on the siblings as they slept, under the cowardly cover of the moonless night. They claimed that they had been going to put the fear of God into the witch, but all the womenfolk knew what evil they had been planning to do. The girl had fled across the treacherous marsh as the house burned, but in the morning no trace of her was found - proving the men's claims that she had been a witch, although it was just as likely that she had drowned in the marsh. Her brother had been beaten bloody trying to buy her time to escape and succumbed to his injuries within a few hours. The men claimed that the huntsman must have been a witch as well, and his body was disposed of with no proper burial rites in a watery unmarked grave in the marshes - and that was when the town's nightmare had begun. 

Every night since, the town had been haunted by a monstrous black dog. Those who had been foolhardy enough to try to catch a glimpse of it said that it was the size of a horse, with shaggy black fur and red eyes that glowed with hellfire. Come sundown, everyone locked and barred their doors and hid in their homes as the huntsman's spirit prowled the village, snarling and growling as it sought revenge on the men who had murdered him and caused the death of his sister. Twelve men had already been killed, their bodies torn into shreds by the monster, and all of them had played a part in the witch-hunt. But it was the circumstances of their deaths that had convinced the townspeople that the black dog was a supernatural creature - for the men who had been killed by the dog had all died in rooms that had remained clearly locked from the inside, as if the black dog could walk through walls to get to its victims. 

"Would you happen to know how many men who were involved in the witch-hunt still survive?" Magnus asked her. 

"Just the one - Victor Aldertree, the richest man in town and the one who is rumoured to have led the witch-hunt," the serving lady told him in a hushed voice. "But the black dog cannot touch him, for he has made a huge donation to the parish so that he can seek sanctuary within the hallowed grounds of the church. For two nights now we have all heard the sounds of the beast stalking in vain outside the churchyard."

Magnus smiled. "Well, perhaps he's in luck - because hunting demons and ghosts happens to be my speciality."

\--

Word travelled fast enough that there was a demon hunter in town, and Magnus' bold claims were enough to lure the desperate Victor Aldertree out of the safety of the church during the daylight hours to seek out Magnus. But he took one look at Magnus - dressed in sombre but well-tailored and embroidered waistcoats, black silk thread on glossy black cloth - and grew skeptical. 

"I thought you would be a religious man," Aldertree said, his expression disapproving. 

"I answer to no God and no master except gold and silver," Magnus told him airily. "If you want me to get rid of the black dog, then pay the price I ask for and I will deal with it for you." 

"And what is your price?" Aldertree asked warily. 

"One hundred pieces of silver, and that medallion that's hanging from your neck to make a talisman against witches. I hear that you have had some trouble with one, haven't you?" 

"This is a family heirloom!" Aldertree protested. 

"Surely that is a small price to pay for the safety of the whole town?" Magnus pointed out, and Aldertree grudgingly agreed. 

By nightfall, Magnus was perched on the low gate that went around the churchyard, waiting. Thunder rumbled in the distance. A dense fog was rolling in from the marsh, figures shifting in the grey, and as Magnus watched the shadows in the fog coalesced into one massive beast. He heard it before he even saw it properly, its deep rolling growls and grunts reverberating throughout the town as it emerged from the fog.

The monster was exactly as the townspeople had described, a gigantic black dog with matted fur and eyes wild with hatred as it stalked purposefully down the main street. Magnus got to his feet as it approached, and all the townspeople watched from their upstairs windows and through doors that were cracked open just a sliver as the black dog came to a stop a few feet away from Magnus with its hackles raised and teeth bared. For a moment, neither man nor beast moved; then quick as a flash, the dog lunged and Magnus drew a pistol from his belt and fired a shot. They could have told him that it wouldn't work, for it wasn't the first time someone had tried to shoot the black dog. The bullet seemed to go straight through the beast as if it was as insubstantial as the fog it had come from, and yet when the black dog landed with its front paws digging into Magnus' shoulders, it was corporeal enough to slam him down into the dirt. Magnus grappled with it, using his arm to fend it off but didn't make a sound when the dog sank its teeth into his arm, even though it did look like his lips were moving. Everyone thought the dog would rip off his arm, but instead it dragged him through the mud and down the street, all the way into the fog, and then all was silent. Just as the townspeople had resigned themselves to finding the mangled body of the self-professed demon hunter in the marsh the next morning, Magnus staggered out of the fog, bedraggled and bleeding, but alive. 

"It is done," he announced. "The black dog is no more."

\--

Magnus hung the talisman he had made from Victor Aldertree's family heirloom in the ruins of the burned house where the huntsman and his sister had lived, and cautioned everyone not to remove it under any circumstances. He was sent off as a hero, with many smiles and thanks, and the black dog did not return. A few nights later, when Victor Aldertree was sure that the coast was clear, he went back to the burned house to retrieve his medallion, and was surprised to find Magnus waiting for him there.

"You! I thought you'd left town," Aldertree said suspiciously. "What are you doing here?" 

"I could ask the same of you," Magnus replied. "Didn't I say that no one was to remove the talisman? Aren't you afraid that the witch will return?"

"She wasn't a witch, just an arrogant little girl," Aldertree scoffed. 

"So you're admitting that you led a witch-hunt against innocent people, just because the lady spurned your advances?" 

"I'm not admitting to anything, and if you try to spread any lies about me, I will make sure that you're the next one who ends up hanged for witchcraft," Aldertree said with a sneer.

He moved to take the talisman from where it was hanging on a wall, and it was only then that he realised that it was hanging off an arrow that had been driven into the wood - an arrow not unlike the ones that had been used by the huntsman. 

"How in God's name..."

"He told me he has no intention of hurting the townspeople. The only death he wants is yours." 

A deep growl was heard from outside the ruins of the house. Aldertree's eyes widened and he foolishly ran out of the building in an attempt to outrun the beast, and in a few moments Magnus heard screams and the horrible sounds of skin and flesh tearing and bones breaking in powerful jaws, and after the screams died off, there was a long triumphant howl from the black dog. He waited until it had all gone quiet before he stepped out, careful not to soil his boots with the bloody remains of Victor Aldertree. 

The black dog was sitting on its haunches, and as Magnus watched, the creature shrank and shifted into the form of an ordinary man. 

"I'm sorry about your arm," he said. 

"It's alright. It's healing, although it has made flying a bit difficult," Magnus replied. "I'm sorry too, about what happened to you and your sister." 

He shrugged. "This place was not meant for us. My sister waits for me across the marshland."

He was shivering in his thread-bare clothes, which were all soaked through with blood. Magnus walked up to him and draped his cloak around him. "What are your plans now?" 

"We will find another place where we can try to live our days in peace." 

"Perhaps we could travel together for a time. There is safety in numbers for folk like us, after all," Magnus suggested. 

The man looked up at Magnus in surprise, but smiled and nodded, then allowed Magnus to help him to his feet.

"We never did manage to make proper introductions. I'm Magnus."

"I'm Alec."

"Come on, then. Let's find your sister and be on our way," Magnus said with a bright smile. 

The two men began to walk across the marsh, shoulder to shoulder. A cloud drifted over the thin silver crescent, and when it emerged again to cast its dim light over the land, if anyone had been watching, they would have noticed that the two men seemed to have vanished.

In their place, a huge black dog with a large crow perched on its back continued their journey across the marshland, and were eventually swallowed by the grey fog. 


End file.
